Chapter 21 "Accompany"

　What is it?　You still want something?

　Rothfeldt stood up briskly and grabbed my shoulder.

　"I need a favor."

　"I refuse."

　I don't want to. It's too much trouble anyway, isn't it?

　"Take me with you!　I need to know what's really going on."

　There's no need to find out the truth.

　You were set up by the butler and your fiancée.

　"Zubel and Fatima have their reasons..."

　Yeah, I'm sure they had their own reasons for wanting to pick up your lands.

　"That's why!"

　I told you earlier that I would refuse.

　I let out a big sigh.

　"I'll tell you first."

As if to cover Rothfeldt's insistence, I say.

　"I don't know about you, but I don't have any feelings about Zubel or Fatima."

I continue to speak.

　"No, I don't. I don't want them in my way... let's be clear. I'm going to kill them now."

　"But..."

　"At least I'm going to kill Zubel. Fatima has a few things that are unclear, but I will probably kill her."

　Rothfeldt opened and closed his mouth to say something.

　"Still want to follow me?　I'll tell you first, if you try to interfere, I'll break your limbs right here and you won't be able to move."

　"I...I..."

　That's all for now.

This guy has always said "I(watashi)" to himself but when he doesn't feel at ease, he says "I(boku)".

　His head can't keep up with the developments. I can't talk about this any more.

　"You can talk to Hoffer about how to handle yourself. I'll leave you now."

I lightly raised my hand and left the place.

　After leaving Hoffer's mansion, I quickly decided to head for the Oratorium.

　There were two reasons for my haste. First, I didn't want to give Zubel time to make his next move.

Perhaps the "hunter of souls" has not yet realized that they have made a mistake.

Now I can make the first move.

　The other is about Rothfeldt.

　It would be troublesome for him to say that he would follow me even if he was calm.

　To be honest, I'm using his body and I feel sorry for his situation, but I don't want to help him at all.　

　It was his own fault that he died in the first place, and I just reused his corpse.

　I was able to revive him, albeit in this way.

　I don't have anything to complain about.

　I hope you'll be happy in a place I don't know.

　Now, about the route...

　I unfolded the map in my mind.

Unlike last time, I will not go through the subhuman territory, but will cross the border mountain range to the Oratorium.

　Equipment is no problem.

The poison knives and swords I took from them, with the exception of a few, I will sell off later.

　I wanted the ring of magic destruction that Lirinette was using, but I couldn't take it from Rothfeldt in that state.

　I would need to buy a hooded cloak or something to cover my face.

　The sky was still dark, and it would be a while before the sun rose.

　Maybe I could buy something in a village on the way.

　I quickened my pace and headed for the exit of the town.

　How did this happen?

It was all fine until I left Enkau and went into a nearby village to stock up on cloak and food before the mountain crossing....

　I went into a store and was looking for a cloak when....

"I finally found you!"

　Rothfeldt came in.

　Her clothes had changed from a dress to light leather armor for ease of movement.

Her long hair was also tied up, giving her a very different impression.

She said she had thought about it since then, and that she was going to ask them about it, but I just listened to her and bought a cloak.

　I bought a black cloak, which is inconspicuous and sturdy. It was also flame-proof. It was a good buy with a nice design.

　After that, I stocked up on some food for preservation and left the village.

　A short distance away from the village, I stop and turn to Rothfeldt behind me.

"Yeah, I know what you're going to say. Could you please get out of my way and not follow me?"

Rothfeldt was a bit intimidated when she was suddenly shunned, but she persevered.

　"But without you, I can't talk to Zubel and the others, can I?"

　"I'm sure that's true. I don't know if they'll listen to an unknown person like you."

　"Ugh...yes, that's right. So..."

"No, you don't need to ask me. You've heard about Zubel from Choudhury, haven't you?"

"Hear what?"

　Oh, come on.

If you're using her body, you'll remember.

The idiot who got eaten by me remembers that Zubel came to him directly with the request and that Shudury accepted.

　"Try to remember."

　"Remember..."

　Rothfeldt pauses thoughtfully, and then makes a knowing expression.

　"I see...Zubel directly... But this..."

　Now he puts his hand on his forehead with a bitter expression.

　He's a busy guy, isn't he?

　"It's weird to have memories that aren't yours..."

　Really?

　I was fine...

　"Zubel is guilty. Then you can talk to Fatima about the rest. Take care of yourself until you get to Liard."

"No, Mr. Hoffer, said that. Fatima is in charge of the Oratorium now. I'm going to the Oratorium too."

What, you've noticed?

　I let out a big sigh inwardly.

　This is getting troublesome.

As long as the destination is known, there's no use in sending him away.

I don't feel comfortable beating him into silence.

　I guess it can't be helped....

　"I understand ............. But only until Oratorium."

I decide to relent.

　Rothfeldt's expression brightened.

　He's an easy guy to understand, for better or worse.

"Can you talk to me about it?"

　That was the beginning of a barrage of questions from Rothfeldt, and I was already regretting that I had allowed him to accompany me.

　At first he only glanced at me, but when we started climbing the mountain, he couldn't take it anymore.

　He wanted to hear about what happened after he was abandoned in the wilderness.

"By the way, I was wondering, have you gotten any bigger?　I don't think my body was that big..."

　"I think you might have grown up."

　"What?　No, I've grown...long...?"

　I was just trying to let the question slide and wondering how to shut this guy up....

　Oh, there was something I needed to clarify first.

　"I have one thing I need to decide?"

　"What's that?"

　"Your name. You can't call yourself Rothfeldt with that look, can you?"

　"Oh... well, my body belongs to Lilynette, doesn't it?"

"I guess you could just call yourself Lilynette?"

　"No, I feel kind of bad to Mr. Hoffer."

　"Then why don't you figure it out for yourself?"

　Rothfeldt cooed, but shook his head emphatically.

　"You can put it on for me, if you like."

　Yeah...I don't want to.

　"Please."

　He looked me in the eye.

　Hmmm. I'm getting a little off-kilter.

　...Names...

　I thought about calling her Hanako or Sachiko, but decided against it.

　I'd prefer a name derived from the person himself as much as possible....

　Rothfeldt...Roth...ah, there is a good one.

　In this world, names are given by parents.

　In Rothfeldt's case, it is Rothfeldt Haydn Oratorium.

　Oratorium is the family name. Rothfeldt is the name given by his father and Haydn is the name given by his mother.

　Other names are given when there are godparents other than the parents.

　Haydn and... isn't that a woman's name?

　Then let's break it down a bit...

　"How about Heidi?"

　"...Heidi... yeah, that's good. I like it. It's very nice. I'm Heidi from now on."

　Heidi, aka Heidi Rothfeldt, mumbled her name over and over again as if to confirm it.

Then she was quiet for a while, but then the questions resumed.

I wanted to ignore her, but she was too insistent, so I gave her a digested version of my adventures on Mount Shudras.

　Heidi listened to me with a twinkle in her eye like a child.

I cut out the part about my physical condition, so it was as if I had conquered that mountain almost unscathed.

　The inconvenient part of the story was that I got through it with a little application of magic. Was that too much to ask?

She didn't seem to have any doubts. Well, that's good.

　"You are strong! It's amazing that you managed to beat a pack of earth dragons almost unscathed!"

No, I got mad when I was hit by them and managed to finish them off by doing something reckless.

"If it had been me...I would have managed to get three of them..."

Three heads...right.

　Come to think of it, I killed three of them and was down, too.

　There is a difference between hard and soft, but I guess we are the same person.

　So, are our abilities the same?

　I've mixed things up so much that I'm not sure what I was originally.

　I've mutated so much that the only original part of me left is my brain.

　I suddenly became curious and looked at Heidi's body from head to foot.

Well, she certainly has been working out.

The assassin seems to have built her body very well, with very little lean meat on her, and her body is tight.

Hmmm, looks easy to eat.

...Oh no, I mistook her for a food or something before I knew it.

　"What is it?　I don't want you to look at me too much."

　"No, I'm just hungry."

　"Why are you looking at me and thinking about eating?"

"Maybe we'll eat after we climb a little higher."

　"You?　Did you fool me by any chance?"

　I don't know. I'm not thinking about emergency rations, okay?

　After that, we decided to camp a little further up the mountain.

　Naturally, Heidi, who had grown up as a little boy, couldn't cook, so I had to cook for her.

　Incidentally, several of the people I had eaten with so far were able to cook, so I had no problem doing so.

I grilled the meat I had planned to eat raw and put back the dried food I had bought in water.

　It wasn't what you would call cooking, but Heidi was delighted with it.

She's like a child, isn't she?

　After the meal, Heidi suggested we take turns resting, so I let her do whatever she wanted.

　After all, the sun was already setting.

I let Heidi sleep first, and while watching the bonfire, I thought about what we should do at Oratorium.

　I could probably make the first move, but it was also possible that the other party would have insurance to protect themselves... but I'd have to wait and see.

　It would be easy when we confronted him.

Zubel is a butler, not a warrior, so if I fight him, it will be a piece of cake.

　I'm confident I can kill him with one blow.

　Well, I'm not going to kill him easily because he did a lot of unnecessary things to me.

　The problem is Fatima.

　I heard that she is skilled in water magic...or rather ice magic.　

　If it's true, that's a problem.

　Even I might be in trouble if I'm frozen to the core.

　Worst-case scenario, I might borrow Heidi's ring to nullify it.

　Is this the best I can do with the information I have at the moment?　

　While I was thinking about this, I heard a noise and looked over to see Heidi about to wake up.

...I guess it's time to switch.

　I can't sleep, so it's going to be a boring time.

　I don't have anything to do, so I'm going to do some rewashing of the memories I've taken away.